One of the largest bookmakers on the territory of the UK and Ireland – Paddy Power Betfair – saw its shares sharply decrease after the company made an unexpected announcement. This morning, Paddy Power surprisingly revealed that its Chief Executive Officer Breon Corcoran is to step down. As a result, the prize of the company’s shares was more than 4% lower at today’s opening in comparison to their prize on Friday market closure.
The bookmaker revealed that Mr. Corcoran has reached the company’s board to inform it that he wished to step down from his position, having spent 16 years with Paddy Power and its predecessors.
As announced by the bookmaker, Peter Jackson, who is the Paddy Power Betfair director and has recently been appointed as Chief Executive of the global payment group WorldPay, is to replace Corcoran after him spending more than 15 years at the company. Jackson, on the other hand, has been serving as a CEO of WorldPay for a few months, after being appointed at the position in March 2017. No official date for the position handover has been provided by the gaming operator so far.
In 2011, Breon Corcoran resigned from his position in Paddy Power in order to become Chief Financial Officer of Betfair. After the merger, many leading management positions were filled with Betfair employees, and experts described Mr. Corcoran’s return to Paddy Power as one of the major achievements of the Paddy Power Betfair merger, given his great success as part of Betfair’s team.
The announcement was made by Paddy Power to the Irish Stock Exchange before stock market trading was started today. Over the weekend, there have been rumours roaming around local media that the company had been looking for a successor of Mr. Corcoran, but the news had no official confirmation until Monday morning.
The departure of Mr. Corcoran comes only a year and a half after the Irish bookmaker completed its £7-billion merger with the betting exchange provider Betfair. It was exactly Mr. Corcoran’s presence on top of the company that has been pointed as one of the main factor for the merger to be carried out. Up to date, the deal is described as one of the greatest steps for the company.
Mr. Corcoran himself commented on the announcement, saying that it had been a very difficult decision for him to make, and despite there was never a proper time for leaving, the successful completion of Paddy Power Betfair merger. Gary McGann, Chairman of Paddy Power, explained that the company had started looking for a suitable successor of Mr. Corcoran a few months ago and confirmed that his successor Peter Jackson was chosen unanimously by the board.
The official start date of Mr. Jackson’s tenure remains to be confirmed by the company, with Mr. Corcoran remaining on the lead until this happens in order for the integration of Paddy Power and Betfair to be competed smoothly for both businesses.
- Author
Olivia Cole
